Hanoi (VNA) – Eight Indonesians weredeported from Malaysia on January 11 after their mobile phones were found tocontain the logo of the self-claimed Islamic State (IS), an Indonesian officialconfirmed.
Muhammad Iqbal, director of citizen protection atIndonesia’s Foreign Ministry, cited investigation results that the deported personswere students of a school in Indonesia's West Sumatra province.
They made trips to Malaysia and Thailand's southernprovince of Pattani to undertake a study programme.
On January 9, they were blocked from enteringSingapore from Malaysia's Johor state as Singaporean immigration officers foundthe IS logo in a mobile phone belonging to one of the eight.
Malaysian anti-terror police conducted investigationagainst the eight Indonesians on the next day and concluded that the IS logowas unintentionally saved into the mobile phone through social media, Iqbalsaid.
He added that Malaysian authorities deported theminstantly, and the eight students are now in the custody of Riau provincialpolice.
Singapore was once targeted by an Indonesian homegrownterror group which planned rocket attacks from Batam. Indonesian police foiledthe plans and arrested members of the group in August 2016.-VNA